How the vocal range test works
This vocal range test listens through your microphone and works out the pitch you are singing about forty times a second. A note counts only once you hold it steadily for 300 milliseconds, and the lowest and highest held notes become your range.
Glides, cracks and scoops do not count, because the pitch has to stay within half a semitone of one note for the whole hold. Sliding past a low note on the way down is not enough to claim it. Holding it is.
The detector uses the YIN method, which compares the signal with delayed copies of itself to find the length of one cycle. It reads clean test tones to within ten cents across the range of the human voice, and it ignores frames that are too quiet or too noisy to have a clear pitch.
How to get an accurate result
- Warm up first. A few minutes of humming and gentle slides add notes at both ends that a cold voice does not have.
- Sing comfortably, not forced. The range worth knowing is the one you can sing at a usable volume and tone, not a squeak or a growl you produce once.
- Use a quiet room. The detector follows the strongest pitched sound it hears, so a radio, a piano or a television will be measured instead of you.
- Mind the distance. About an arm's length from a laptop microphone works well, a little closer for a phone. Low notes need you closer than high ones.
- Sing an open vowel. A steady "ah" or "oo" on one breath gives the clearest pitch. Headphones are not needed, because the test plays nothing back.
What your range does and does not tell you
Range is the easiest part of a voice to measure and the least reliable guide to voice type. Teachers classify voices by tessitura, where the voice sits comfortably for long stretches, and by weight, timbre and where the register changes fall. Two singers with the same extremes can be a light baritone and a dramatic tenor.
The voice types above are ranked by how much of each typical range your measured range covers. Published ranges differ from source to source by a note or two, especially at the top, so the figures below are typical spans rather than rules.
| Voice type | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Soprano | C4 to C6 |
| Mezzo-soprano | A3 to A5 |
| Alto | F3 to F5 |
| Tenor | C3 to C5 |
| Baritone | G2 to G4 |
| Bass | E2 to E4 |
Writing for choir: safe SATB ranges
When a cue calls for voices, write inside the choral range rather than the solo range. These are spans a choir section can sing in tune at a moderate dynamic, and professional choirs and soloists extend them at both ends.
| Part | Sounding range | Written |
|---|---|---|
| Soprano | C4 to A5 | As sounding, treble clef |
| Alto | G3 to D5 | As sounding, treble clef |
| Tenor | C3 to G4 | C4 to G5 in a treble clef with an 8 below, sounding an octave lower |
| Bass | E2 to C4 | As sounding, bass clef |
Sample libraries do not have these limits. A choir library will sustain a tenor B4 at pianissimo for eight bars without complaint, which no live section can do, and writing past the choral range is one reason a sampled choir can stop sounding like people. The guide on why your choir sounds like a synth pad covers the rest of that list.
For big sustained writing, the epic choir roundup compares the libraries built for it, from full ensemble patches to separate men's and women's sections.
Recording your own voice
If you sing your own guide vocals or demos, the range you can hold well is the range to arrange in. Choosing a key that keeps the melody's peak a little below your highest held note leaves room for a take that sounds unforced.
For small pitch drift in an otherwise good take, the vocal tuning plugin roundup compares the tools that correct it without the robotic edge. The vocal production guide covers tuning, comping and processing in order.
Middle C: C4 or C3?
Results use scientific pitch notation, where middle C is C4 and the A above it is A4 at 440Hz. Cubase, Logic and Kontakt label the same key C3, so the toggle switches every note name to that convention if you want to match your DAW.